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Psalm 82

¹ God has taken their place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods they hold judgment:² “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah³ Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding; they walk around in darkness;    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;⁷ nevertheless, you shall die like mortals and fall as one man, O princes.

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you!

Luke 10:25-37

²⁵ An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷ He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” In this parable, the scholar of the law knew that he was in trouble when Jesus responded to his answer with, “Do this, and you will live.” Knowing the right answer and living into the answer are, of course, not the same thing. So, seeking to vindicate himself he asked, “And who is my neighbor?” 

In what ways are we like the scholar asking questions; seeking to parse Jesus’ initial answer; looking for loopholes that will justify making our lack of action justifiable; making our lives easier rather than making other lives bearable or safe?

The expert in the law was essentially asking, Yes, but who is not my neighbor. Who can I exclude? 

Who, cast as the Samaritan would be provocative in this parable today? With whom are we uncomfortable? Someone from the Middle East? A released felon? A transgender person? A Brown or Black skinned person? Someone that does not speak English? Anyone that is Muslim or any non-Christian faith? Republicans? Democrats? Far too often the default is to treat people like ourselves as our neighbors; with love and compassion and to treat people different than ourselves as invisible or disposable or dangerous to the status quo.   

Who exactly is our neighbor? We are not getting to the heart of the parable until we understand that the answer is unequivocally everyone. 

The person at the homeless shelter or sleeping on the street or in the woods is our neighbor

The person shopping the Food Pantry to make ends meet is our neighbor

The family member that speaks uncomfortable truths is our neighbor

The incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person is our neighbor

The temporarily or chronically unemployed are our neighbors

The hungry child and the hungry adult are our neighbors 

The sex worker is our neighbor

The migrant workers picking our blueberries and other crops are our neighbors

The LGBTQi teenager or adult cast out by their family or their church is our neighbor

The dis-connected mentally ill person is our neighbor

The un-wed mother or father are our neighbors

The alcohol or drug troubled person is our neighbor

And the person that which we disagree politically or theologically

And the person in the pews with us

And the person in the pews elsewhere at Synagogue or Mosque

And the person that cheers for the rival team

And the person living across the road from us and the person living across the country from us; we are all neighbors. We and they are all deserving of mercy, compassion, and kindness.

And I know we know that. 

How many of us can admit to being essentially “good” people but with blinders on, seeing only those we wish to see; helping only those we wish to help. We, like the expert in the law in this parable want to know, “How good do we need to be?” and “How often?” 

I am wondering how many examples we can name, spur of the moment, of showing compassion and kindness to someone that we do not know? 

(seek input….) 

We do many good things. They do not go unnoticed but they mostly go unreported. Can we do more? Must we do more? We each need to answer that for ourselves. My answer is, yes, I can do more. And each day is another opportunity to live into my answer; to live into my Yes. 

This scripture teaches us to show mercy. This scripture helps us to expand our definition of neighbor. 

In this parable Jesus set up his listeners by using examples that they understood to be good people… the priest represented the highest religious leadership among the Jewish people and the Levite was the designated lay person of the priest. These were religious figures that were respected by the listeners. They were expecting another “good” person to round out the parable; an Israelite, or a Galilean maybe. But Jesus flipped the script when he cast a person from Samaria in the role of the compassionate helper. Imagine a Ukrainian civilian showing this kind of mercy and compassion to a Russian soldier; a Palestinian helping an Israelite, or vice versa. Imagine a Proud Boy coming to the rescue of a Brown or Black skinned transgender person that had been beaten and left for dead.  

The majority of us are here, on these unceded lands of the Wabanaki people; (the People of the Dawn) because we or our ancestors were seeking a better life. Some of us have been here for multiple generations, some of us are first generation immigrants. And now we, through our laws and elected officials, are denying those same rights and privileges to others. We who are aliens in the land of the Indigenous people that were here before us must also be reminded of our pasts. 

Jesus knew his Torah well. The Book of Leviticus, the third of the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, contains lessons that have been dubbed the “Holiness Code.”  After their ancestors were exiled and forced to wander homeless for 40 years the next generations of Israelite people still needed to be reminded of their past.  

“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

Who are the neighbors that we have pushed aside; that we do not know; that we do not acknowledge? 

Are we willing to change that? Are we willing to humble ourselves? To ask for forgiveness? To behave differently; as if we do not hold all the privilege? 

Often our Psalms pray for God to solve our problems as if we can distance ourselves from the situation. I firmly believe that we are part of the equation. If we are praying for God to solve our problems we must be willing to be part of the solution. We are being sorely tested. What can we do in response to what is happening for which we seek holy intervention? Pray. Listen. Act. We are God’s co-conspirators. We are born for this time and this place. We are here to tip the balance to the good. Hospitality as done by Jesus was, and is, risky business with limitless potential.

Who do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  

The one who showed him mercy.

Go and do likewise.

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – July 6, 2025